Just as the Oak Ridge Boys announced a tribute to the late George Jones, the booming of the Ohio
State Fair’s nightly fireworks show could be heard from inside the Celeste Center.

“Is that you, George?” asked lead singer Duane Allen, and the half-full venue roared with
laughter.

The Oak Ridge Boys, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers Band and Crystal Gayle were called upon
to play the fair after Jones died on April 26. As tenor Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys said, “He
was arguably the greatest country singer who ever lived. You don’t replace George Jones. You just
fill in.”

The three acts filled in the best they could, and the Oak Ridge Boys deserved their headliner
status.

Starting out were the Gatlins, who were known for a bland, pop-oriented style of country music
in the 1970s called “countrypolitan.” Tenor Larry Gatlin, 65, castigated the younger members of the
audience for not knowing their hits. “You look at us like a goat looking at a gate,” Gatlin said. “
Act like you know the dadburn song.” Of the 10 songs, only
All the Gold in California,
Houston (Means I’m One Day Closer to You) and
Broken Lady, with decent three-part harmonies, were worth knowing.

Crystal Gayle sang her biggest hits,
You’ve Been Talking in Your Sleep and
Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue, along with some tepid cover songs (Lean on Me and
Those Were the Days) instead of more of her 18 country chart-toppers. Gayle’s long black
hair nearly brushed the ground as she and her sister Peggy Sue sang their famous sister Loretta
Lynn’s
Coal Miner’s Daughter and
Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind).

The Oak Ridge Boys are celebrating their 40th year together in their present form (although
their history dates back to the 1940s), and their 16th appearance at the fair. Bonsall said that at
their first show, the cows outnumbered the people, who preferred the Osmonds.

Allen, Bonsall, baritone Richard Lee Golden and bass Richard Sterban thrilled with their vocals
and pleasant mixture of gospel, country and pop music. They pleased the crowd with songs such as
Bobbie Sue,
American Made and
Elvira, with everyone singing “Giddy Up, Oom Poppa, Oom Poppa, Mow Mow.”